Sad Reminders
by Cable Addict
Summary: Tony remembers Ziva through her many scents throughout their apartment. CONTAINS MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH!


Title: Sad Reminders

Summary: Tony remembers Ziva through her many scents throughout their apartment.

Challenge: 'Scents' Challenge on NFA. Issued by Toodles88

Rating: T

Pairing: Tony/Ziva

Disclaimer: I don't own the show, the characters, or the idea. I do, however, own the story line.

--

Tony DiNozzo stepped into his and Ziva's apartment and threw his keys down on the table that was next to the door. He stood there, not knowing what else to do, and surveyed the apartment. It looked so dark and gloomy. Its normal gentle glow was missing, and Tony wondered if it knew too that its owner was gone. His thoughts flashed back to earlier that day

--

_Gibbs and McGee got out of their car, and Tony and Ziva got out of theirs. The four agents made their way up to the large corporate building in front of them._

"_I never suspected him." Ziva commented and Gibbs nodded in agreement._

"_How could someone kill their own daughter?" McGee asked, still in shock over the development of their current case._

"_I dunno, but it's sick." Tony said._

"_I would never dream of harming my children." Ziva said absentmindedly and the other men silently agreed._

_They made their way up to the top floor of the building via the elevator and burst through the doors to their killer's office._

"_Hey! You can't go in there!" The secretary yelled, but all four agents ignored her. They burst through the main office, startling the man that was sitting at the large mahogany desk._

"_Raymond Thompson, you're under arrest for the murder of your daughter, Caroline." Gibbs yelled and the man stood up._

"_Are you out of your mind? That's preposterous! Why would I kill my daughter? I loved her!" He yelled back._

"_We know that," McGee began, "that's why you killed her deadbeat husband." McGee explained._

"_But she saw you do it, and was going to turn you in." Tony continued. "That's why you were forced to kill her too."_

"_That is why you are under arrest." Ziva said and she walked up to Thompson, pulling out her handcuffs as she did._

_In a flash, Raymond had grabbed the letter opener off of his desk and had thrust it through Ziva's chest. Gunfire filled the office and Raymond fell to the floor with several holes through his torso._

"_Ziva!" Tony cried and he rushed to his partner's side._

"_Tony!" She gasped. Tony's eyes quickly scanned her body, seeing where the letter opener had entered. He felt himself go numb. The letter opener had gone right through where her heart was. He put pressure on her wound anyway, hoping that it wasn't as serious as it looked._

"_Tony." Ziva whispered, her eyes already starting to close._

"_No!" Tony yelled, "No! You stay awake! Ziva, you have to stay awake!" He was getting frantic now, he knew in his heart that she didn't have much longer._

"_Tony," Ziva opened her eyes, "I love you. I always have, and I always will." Tears began to form in her eyes._

"_No!" Tony yelled again. "This isn't time for goodbyes!" He was trying to convince both of them this, but knew that whatever he said, it wouldn't matter._

_Ziva lifted a hand and rubbed his cheek gently. "Yes it is."_

_Tony sniffed and nodded slowly. "I love you too." Ziva smiled slightly and closed her eyes. Tony felt her chest fall and he knew that she was gone. The only sounds that filled the office were Tony's remorseful cries._

_--_

Tony kicked his shoes off and trudged further into the apartment. He made his way down the hall and went straight into the bedroom. For a moment, he stared at the bed, feeling a sudden sadness at how bit and empty it looked. He pushed that thought to the back of his mind and crawled on top of the sheets. Grabbing Ziva's pillow, he pulled it to his face and deeply inhaled its scent. He smelled her shampoo, she'd been using peach scented lately, and his thoughts flashed back to weeks ago.

--

"_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend, lucky to have been where I have been, lucky to be coming home again…" Tony awoke one Saturday morning to Ziva's beautiful voice. He noticed that the bathroom door was shut and steam was coming out from under the door. He smirked and got out of bed. In a second, he had crossed the room and was at the bathroom door. He turned the handle and grinned when he found it unlocked. Quietly, he slipped into the bathroom and stripped. He opened the shower curtain and stepped in behind her._

"_I was wondering when you would join me." Ziva said without turning around._

"_How do you do that?" He asked with a grin, shocked at his ninja girlfriend. Ziva turned around smirking._

"_I am Mossad, remember." _

_He nodded and captured her lips with his. Before they knew it, the water had turned cold, and it was lunch time._

_--_

When Tony woke up the next morning, he rolled over expecting to see Ziva's face. When he saw the pillow, thoughts of the previous day came back to him. He sighed and ran a hand over his face. He glanced around the bedroom, looking for something, anything, to distract him. His eyes fell upon the closet. He rolled out of bed and slowly wandered over to the doors. When he opened it and saw the contents, half of the closet was his, half was Ziva's, he felt his eyes brim with tears. Hesitantly, he raised an arm and let his fingers gently touch one of her blouses. He pulled it off its hanger, slid to the floor and cried with her shirt held to his face.

--

"_Ziva!" Tony yelled throughout the apartment when he returned from the laundry room one afternoon._

_Ziva appeared in the foyer. "What?"_

"_Why do my shirts smell like lilac?!" Tony complained and Ziva smirked._

"_It is what I wash my clothes with. I thought it would be a waste of money to go out and buy another thing of detergent."_

_Tony thought about it for a minute. He saw her point, and would even admit that he liked the smell, but decided not to give in yet. "I can't go into work smelling like a giant flower! McGee would have a field day!"_

"_A flower field day!" Ziva giggled and Tony glared at her._

"_This is serious!"_

"_Is it really?" Ziva asked seductively and she sauntered over to him._

"_Yes." He whispered._

"_Maybe there is something I could do to make it up to you?" Ziva whispered into his ear and Tony nodded._

"_I can think of one thing." He dropped the laundry basket at his feet and Ziva jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist._

_--_

Tony woke up slumped against the closet wall. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was well past noon. He quickly decided that he should get something to eat, and as if on cue, his stomach growled. He slowly stood up and made his way into the kitchen, searching for anything to eat. He opened random cabinets, searching for something, anything, to eat. When he opened the cabinet containing the spices, he froze.

--

_Tony slammed the front door closed. From the elevator all the way down the hall, he could smell something cooking, and was delighted when he found out that it was coming from his apartment._

"_Whatcha cookin' good lookin'?" He asked coming up behind Ziva and planting a kiss on the back of her neck._

"_Italian."_

"_Have I told you today that I loved you?" He breathed and smirked when he felt Ziva shiver._

_She turned around in his arms. "As a matter of fact, you haven't." She pouted and he laughed._

"_I love you." He said and kissed her gently on the lips._

"_I love you too." She murmured and kissed him again._

_Tony slyly reached around Ziva and dipped his finger into the sauce._

"_Hey!" Ziva yelped in protest as he sucked the sauce off his finger. "You just put your dirty fingers in my sauce!" She complained and Tony laughed again._

"_They're clean. I swear." She glared at him._

"_How is it?"_

_He dipped his finger back into the pot. "Taste for yourself." He put his finger out and smiled. Ziva smirked and grabbed his hand in hers, bringing the finger into her mouth._

"_Mmmm." She moaned and smiled slightly when she saw Tony shifted uncomfortably. She pushed his hand away and licked her lips. "It needs more spices." She went over to the cabinet and grabbed some jars. Tony watched as she sprinkled a something green into the pot and stirred it around._

_--_

Deciding that none of the food in the kitchen was going to satisfy him, Tony opened the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. He popped the top of and took a long swig and then, his eyes fell on the counter where a bottle of liquid with several sticks sticking out of the top sat.

--

_Tony and Ziva were having a make out session, that was dangerously close to the next step, on the living room couch._

"_Tony." Ziva panted, her eyes squeezed shut as Tony kissed down her collar bone. He began to unbutton her shirt when she grabbed his hand. "I like it on top, remember?" She smiled wickedly and flipped them so that she was now on top of him._

"_I can live with that." He breathed. Ziva fingers finished unbuttoning her shirt, and she threw it over her shoulder. The two lovers heard something fall, and their heads whipped over to the source of the noise. The small bottle of fragrance that Ziva kept on the counter had been knocked over, by Ziva's shirt, and it's oily contents had spilled over the carpet._

"_Oh no!" Ziva cried, starting to get up, but Tony grabbed her waist._

"_We can deal with that later." He forced himself into a sitting position and kissed her passionately on the lips._

"_I guess we can." Ziva murmured as she undid the buttons on his shirt._

_--_

Tony walked around the counter and set his beer down. He got down on his hands and knees and smelled the carpet. He smiled sadly when he smelled its scent. Ziva had been mad when they had cleaned it up and found that it sill smelled like gingersnaps. He laughed slightly as he remembered the glare on her face. He sat back on his heels and desperately tried to think of something else to do. He grabbed his beer and made a stop in the bathroom. He pulled opened a drawer, pulled out a small bottle and sprayed it into the air.

--

"_Come on Ziva! We're going to be late to the ceremony, and Gibbs'll kill!" Tony poked his head into the bathroom just in time to see Ziva putting the finishing touches on her makeup._

"_I am coming!" She replied and grabbed a small bottle out of an open drawer. She sprayed a few sprays onto her wrists and rubbed them together._

"_I didn't know you wore perfume." Tony commented, slightly amused._

"_Only on special occasions."_

_Tony sniffed the air. "What kind is that?"_

"_Jasmine." She said and put the bottle back in the drawer. "Are you ready to go?"_

_Tony nodded. "I've been ready for almost an hour." The two linked arms and made their way out of their apartment._

_--_

Tony deeply inhaled the air, taking the smell of jasmine in through his nostrils. He let out a deep sigh and started to put the bottle away when something else caught his eye. Her deodorant. He picked it up, uncapped it and held it under his nose.

--

"_Slow down will ya?" Tony yelled after Ziva, who was running ahead of him._

"_How about you speed up?" She called over her shoulder._

"_I don't know why I agreed to come running with you! You're a friggin' machine!"_

_Ziva laughed and stopped, still jogging in step._

_Tony quickly caught up. "Thank you." He took some deep breaths and noticed that the air around him smelled like sandalwood. "Why do you still smell good and I smell like a sweatshop?"_

_She laughed. "Because I am in shape whereas you are not." She took off again._

"_Hey!" He yelled after her._

_--_

Years later, everytime Tony smelled jasmine, gingersnaps, lilacs, peaches or sandalwood, he would be reminded of Ziva. Instead of being sad, he'd smile and remember the good time he and Ziva had shared.

--

A/N: I hope I didn't upset anyone too badly. Please review!


End file.
